Numb, Pain, or Healing?

Summary: Thanks to the darkness growing in the galaxy, the past threatens to overtake and destroy a padawan, who already has enough on her plate between the Clone Wars and her master gone dangerous.

Hurt

Her body tensed as she sensed her master, Jedi Knight Kaiya
Pollo*, coming around the last corner to the training room. She had prepared
herself mentally and physically for this earlier. Her master was a hard woman,
tough in every aspect, considered one of the best at the Temple. She was
respected as one of the best of the Jedi Knights commanding the clones in the
war. She, however, had one tiny little problem that only her Padawan knew
about: giving way into frustration and anger, which ended up, more often than
not, with her beating her Padawan near to death. It hadn’t always been like
that; the start of her apprenticeship had been strict, demanding, but not
abusive. The Battle of Geonosis and a few missions later, she was getting
bruises for failures and learning to bottle up her emotions behind strong
mental shields.

As Master Pollo’s obedient Padawan (not that she had any
real choice), would put up with the torture, not crying out in the slightest.
Once her master was done with her “venting”, she’d go to the Room of a Thousand
Fountains, sneak through an opening behind the climbing rose vines and into the
room tucked behind the towering vines to heal herself. So far, no one except a
select few apprentices, initiates, and workers knew about the room. No one knew
how badly she was injured. Not that anyone would care. This was wartime; there
were far more pressing concerns.

“Are you ready, Padawan?” Kaiya’s voice, edged with a bit of
contempt aimed at her, she felt, asked her.

“Yes, my Master,” she replied softly, getting out her twin
lightsabers, a special skill that rarely occurred among the Jedi, if ever. She immediately dropped
into a crouch, crossing the blades above her head to block the downward stroke
dealt by her master. She then kicked out at her master’s sword hand, aiming to
knock the lightsaber from her hand. However, Master Pollo sensed it in time and
used it to Force-knock Ani into the wall behind her, and then into the racks,
into the wall over and over again, and onto the floor.

“Get up, sluggard,” she hissed as Ani regained her footing,
bruises on both arms and legs.

“I’m sorry, Master,” she said blankly, using the Force to
numb her pain and to help her to not feel anymore. Three years of being Master
Pollo’s padawan had taught her to control herself so well, that few could
penetrate her shields. One just happened to be her master.

She dodged the orange blade and used some quick footwork to
send her master stumbling on her own feet, while she swung up to grab a support
railing, the lowest suspended from the ceiling. She hung in midair for a
moment, and then let herself drop silently towards her master, who raised her
lightsaber in time to block Ani’s parry. The latter quickly twisted into a
double cut to the head, which managed to unseat her master, who landed heavily
on the floor. Soon, they were done. Kaiya had made her Padawan lose her
footing. The master stood over her padawan, clearly enraged, and obviously
building up the Force to begin beating her. Ani sensed that it was not nearly
as mindless of a rage as it had been other nights, for which she was grateful.

“I don’t know,” she grabbed Ani with the Force to lift her
off the floor, “how many times,” Ani felt the pressure begin to build on her
chest, almost completely suffocating her, “I told you to NOT LOSE YOUR
FOOTING!”

“But Master,” Ani protested weakly, gasping for air, “I used
a maneuver that’s several levels ahead of what my class is at. Surely that
would be impressive enough for you.” Instantly, she regretted her words as that
brought a painful smash up against the wall, opening a gash and causing blood
to trickle down the back of her scalp. She knew the difference between the
sensations of sweat and blood.

“Never contradict
me, Padawan,” hissed Kaiya venomously.

“Y-yes Master Pollo,” Ani stuttered, picking herself up from
the cold floor only to fall again as her Master sliced a part of her left leg
open. Concentrating on the Force, she began healing the surface of the
cauterized wound while making to run from the room, close to tears. She
normally wouldn’t do this but classes began early tomorrow morning, and if she
didn’t get enough sleep, she would not make it through, potentially getting a
back grade which earned the same from her master, possibly worse. She heard
Kaiya’s voice yelling, “Come back here, Padawan!” but on she ran. She ran down
the deserted hallways, everybody at this hour either asleep or off on missions
across the galaxy. Her clothing was long and loose, helping hide everything
from visible sight, and she kept her shields raised and facial expression blank
till she came to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. She detected other Jedi
meditating in various parts of the gardens there, shifting as they sensed her
arrival. Ducking her head, still a tight grip on her shields, Ani dashed into
the section that held the rocky walls covered in vines. She parted a section of
the vines and climbed on through.

Ani rewove the vines so that she could see others, but they
couldn’t see her, and wouldn’t even think of looking in this direction. Ani then
all but collapsed on the mossy dirt, bringing the Force to bear on her entire
body, piece by piece, healing every single visible injury so that the teachers
and instructors wouldn’t notice and ask. It was embarrassing for that to
happen; it had happened twice in the past, and she wasn’t willing for it to
happen again, unless she wanted to nearly die by another beating.

She relaxed her grip on the Force now; she was healed to the
last bruise, and could relax and get some rest. She lay there for some time,
breathing slowly and evenly, until she realized that there was another person
near her.

“Who are you?” she demanded, leaping up only to gasp at the
pain from her left leg. She had forgotten to heal deeper than the surface.

InkandPaper26 :
So cute I can't wait for an update please do it as soon as possible I don't know why but good girls with bad boys are tooo cute. A little grammar errors but that's okay it's just petty stuff. Please update NOW. Love the title and book cover, btw

Libraqueen :
Love the Story. I understand what Blair is going through, when you feel you are the odd one out. The writer portrayed that very well. I love the writer's way with words. This is a very good write up. It takes a broken soul to recognize a broken soul. I guess Holden Knight was also broken.

Dhia Lan:
Everything that I look for in a romance novel. All here. Love, truly love the story. A gift from the writer, truly. A million thanks won’t be enough to express my gratitude for the great story the writer has shared with us.

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